Crushed fan saved by hero supporter

Handout photo issued by the Hillsborough Inquests of the Hillsborough football ground shown to the inquests. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Tuesday April 1, 2014. The Hillsborough disaster is "seared into the memories of the very many people affected by it", a coroner has told jurors at the fresh inquests into the deaths of the 96 football fans who died. In an opening statement, Lord Justice Goldring explained the tragedy was "the worst ever disaster at a British sports stadium", when hundreds of people were hurt and dozens killed in a "terrible crush". Among the different questions the jury will have to consider is whether a decision to promote chief superintendent David Duckenfield, who was in charge on match day, was the right choice, the coroner said. Before the jury of seven women and four men was sworn in, names of each of the 96 victims of the disaster were read aloud. The disaster unfolded on April 15 1989 during Liverpool's FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest as thousands of fans were c

A man who closed his eyes and ‘said goodbye’ as he was crushed at the Hillsborough disaster was saved from death by a fellow supporter.

Stephen Vaughan Williams, who was 24 in 1989, told the new inquests he thought he was going to die in the crush that killed 96 of his fellow Liverpool supporters.

But his life was saved by Andrew Worsley, who saw him lying on the ground, got him off the terraces and left him with a policeman.

Mr Williams said he had been knocked off his feet by a surge of fans with only a crush barrier stopping him going any further down and then a second surge pinned him tight against the barrier.

He said he felt himself lapsing into unconsciousness and told the inquests: “I decided to close my eyes and said goodbye to my family.”

The next thing he remembers is waking up with someone saying - “This one’s alive.”

He suffered broken ribs and was detained in hospital, appearing on the news the following evening, when then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visited the Northern General Hospital, where he had been taken.

The inquests then heard from Mr Worsley, the fan responsible for saving Mr Williams after seeing him lying on the ground.

He said that Mr Williams had appeared ‘lifeless - like a sack of potatoes’.

Mr Worsley was able to push back through the people behind him to the tunnel outside, leaving Mr Williams with a policeman before going back on to the terraces to find his father.

He said he next saw Stephen Williams on the TV news, saying he didn’t know how on earth he got out.

The two men subsequently had a ‘very emotional’ meeting three months after the disaster and met up again a couple of years ago to discuss the experience.